


The Tiny Peeta Diaries: Summertime

by aimmyarrowshigh



Series: The Tiny Peeta Diaries (Or, Five Times Peeta Made People Say 'Dammit') [2]
Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff, Gen, Illustrated, Pre-Series, Toddlers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-12
Updated: 2011-07-12
Packaged: 2018-08-23 03:30:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8312311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aimmyarrowshigh/pseuds/aimmyarrowshigh
Summary: Peeta tentatively stepped out into the yard. He glanced back at the door.

  Then he took another step.

  Three steps away from the stoop.

  He was free.
--Illustrated by everybodysbadintentions.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [District Twelve (The Girl with the Boy)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/812846) by [aimmyarrowshigh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aimmyarrowshigh/pseuds/aimmyarrowshigh). 



> Somehow I had never posted these over to AO3 back in 2013! So, enjoy. :)

* * *

**002\. Summertime**  
Peeta slipped out of the bakery in his sock-feet so Mahra wouldn't hear. He remembered at the last second to catch the knob before the loose hinges swung shut with a bang, and he slowly, slowly shut the door. He had never been outside alone after sunset before; the air smelled different than it did during the day, fresher and wetter and sweeter. He sat down on the stoop, still warm with midsummer sunshine, and pulled off his little white socks. He wriggled his toes in the grass and stuffed his socks in his pockets.

He stood up and looked around, digging his toes into the cool dirt. The Merchant Quarters looked different at nightfall, too – the shadows were sharper and the windows seemed larger and blacker, frightening like big mutt eyes, the kind he'd seen in last year's Games before Barm came in and switched off the screen. The buildings looked bigger. Everything was quiet.

It was a little scary, being out here all alone.

But Peeta knew that it was just the Merchant Quarters. There was nothing dangerous here. No mutts. No one who would hurt him. He knew everyone and he knew how to get home: the white letters on th were easy to see and they were the only shop with yellow curtains in the windows.

Peeta tentatively stepped out into the yard. He glanced back at the door.

Then he took another step. Three steps away from the stoop, he was free. He giggled and ran to the edge of the yard. There was a big, ugly bug on the dusty road, so he crouched down to poke at it. It curled up in a tight little ball when he touched its back, so he prodded at it for a long time as the night air grew softer and cooler around him, the breeze wrapping around his arms and ruffling his hair lightly.

When Peeta tired of the pillbug, he looked around at the square. Without anyone else around to play with, adventuring might not be as exciting as he'd thought.

Peeta frowned. He looked back down for the pillbug, but it had rolled away. Maybe he could go to the Seam and get those flowers his dad wanted to use for cookies. The primroses.

Something flickered beside Peeta's eye and he flinched, expecting his mother – but there was nothing there. He turned and looked as it flickered again, zooming around his head.

"Stars," Peeta whispered, scrambling to his feet as he noticed dozens of them, zooming and flickering all around the Quarter. His bare feet padded against the concrete and dust as he followed them, staring up in amazement. He wandered off the main sidewalk, grass and pebbles underfoot as he set off on an unknown path, following the falling stars.

"Oh! O-oh, dammit, there's someone – wait… Peeta?"

Peeta jumped and looked around. He was standing in the alley behind the tailor shop, light streaming out of the upstairs loft windows. Cinder and Magdalen looked at him in surprise from where they pressed up against the shop's brick wall, their cheeks very pink and their hair very ruffled. They were hugging. Again.

"Hi, Magdalen!" Peeta chirped. "Hi, Cinna!"

He bent to dislodge a pebble from between his toes.

"What are you doing out here, Peeta?" Cinder asked, scrubbing a hand through his hair to tame it. He stepped away from the shop's wall and adjusted his belt. "It's very late for you."

"I'm on a aventure," Peeta informed him. "What are you doing out here?"

Magdalen smoothed down her skirt and knelt down by Peeta. She frowned as she examined the walloping shiner that had bloomed around his eye. "How did you get out of your house?"

"I sneaked," Peeta said, shrugging. "The stars are falling all over the place; look." He pointed. One flickered and blinked past Magdalen's ear. "It's very pretty, but I think the world is ending."

Magdalen laughed and reached out, quickly catching a falling star in her cupped hands. "They're not stars, Peeta, they're lightning bugs. Look," she opened her hands enough for Peeta to peep through her fingers at the glowing insect.

"Ooh," Peeta breathed, poking a finger through hers. "I wanna touch it."

"Do you want to catch some?" she asked, smiling sweetly at him. Peeta's heart ka-thunked in his little chest; Magdalen was so pretty with her big gray Seam eyes and long black braid. He hoped that maybe if Magdalen didn't marry Cinna, she would wait until he got big and would marry him.

"What do you do with them once you catched them?" Peeta asked.

Magdalen shrugged. "Watch them shine."

Peeta considered this. He scooted up close to Magdalen and propped his chin on her brown shoulder. "Will you caught them with me?"

She patted his hair. "Of course!"

"Okay!" Peeta said, scrambling to his feet. "What do we caught them in?"

"Hmmm…" Magdalen hummed. She turned and grinned up at Cinder, who still leaned against the tailor shop wall, looking amused. "Do you have a jamjar or anything, by chance, Cinna?"

"Jam?" Peeta asked pertly. "They like jam?"

"No," said Magdalen. "It's just best to catch them in a clear jar so you can see the lights."

"Oh," Peeta said, deflating a little. "I really like jam." Then he brightened. "But I also like stars! And I like you." He smiled winningly at Magdalen, who mussed his hair.

"Hey, catch!" Cinder called from the tailor shop door, tossing an empty jar underhand to Magdalen. She handed it to Peeta.

"How do I caught them?" Peeta asked, bouncing on his toes.

"You just do," Magdalen laughed, shrugging. "Just try. I've heard you can be pretty resourceful when you want something."

Peeta scowled. "I was only in the breadbox for a little while."

Magdalen snorted. "Go catch your lightning bugs." She turned and reached out, beckoning Cinder. "Come out here and sit with us, Cinna."

Cinder smiled sleepily and sat down beside Magdalen in the dusty alley, stretching his long legs out in front of him. The breeze rustled through the trees with a soft whisper, and the light from the Peacekeepers' streetlamps buzzed quietly out in the Quarter. Magdalen scootched over and settled in his lap. Cinna wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on her shoulder as Peeta jumped around with his empty jar, trying to catch fireflies.

"I can't do it," Peeta panted finally, flopping down onto the ground. "They're too faster than me."

"Aw," cooed Magdalen, pushing herself up. "Let's see if we have more luck together, okay?"

She showed Peeta how to scoop the jar around them.

"See?" she asked, holding the jar down to his eye-level.

"The light is in its butt!" Peeta cried, falling over in glee.

He laughed and laughed and rolled around in the dust. Then he jumped up and reached out his hands. "I wanna try again."

Magdalen gave him the jar and he jumped around again, trying to catch them and wriggle his rump at the same time. Magdalen snorted, trying not to laugh, but eventually she and Peeta both laughed until he'd fallen down again.

Once he'd caught three fireflies on his own, Cinder stood up and lifted Peeta high in the air, swooping him around as Peeta shrieked and tried to fill the jar.

When his jar was teeming with flickering bugs, Cinna poked holes in the lid with a heavy darning needle and Magdalen screwed it shut.

"Now you can watch them," she said. "But make sure you let them go in the morning so they don't die."

Peeta beamed at his collection of magical fallen stars. Then he frowned.

"Oh no!" He looked distraught. "I can't bring this home; my mother will know I sneaked out."

Cinder and Magdalen exchanged a look. "Well, why don't you look for a while here, and then we can let them go together and we'll walk you home," Cinna suggested. "It's very late out anyway."

Peeta nodded, still sad, and settled down on the ground. He set his jar down carefully and lay on his belly to watch the lights sparkle. He tried not to blink as they zoomed in curlicues and arcs and buzzed their lights on and off, but somehow, when he did blink, he opened his eyes to find that Magdalen was carrying him up the street to th Y.

"My stars," he murmured into her neck, smudging his itchy nose on her shoulder.

"We'll catch more," she promised him soothingly, rubbing his back. "Go back to sleep."

"How'm'I gonna get in my bed?" Peeta asked, clutching her braid like a teddy bear. "'M gonna run into the doors. In the dark."

"No, no, no. Cinna went ahead to get Barm to come downstairs and get you," Magdalen said. "No one's going to hurt you, sweetheart. Don't worry, Peeta. Me and Barm and Cinna? We won't let anyonehurt you."

"M'kay," Peeta mumbled, his eyes closing again. He nestled close to her braid, hiding the bruise on his face.

It was easy to believe that he would never get hurt again on a night when he had gotten to be free and catch falling stars.


End file.
